


red light district

by yikesmikey



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, implied rape, its a mess y’all, jason has a past, lotta angst, this is just my fic to explore jason’s past w sex on the streets, we respect sex workers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 03:07:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18983968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikesmikey/pseuds/yikesmikey
Summary: Tim set his exhaustion aside for a moment. “Jason,” he noticed the blood and bruises on the other man’s knuckles. “What happened?”





	red light district

**Author's Note:**

> yo this does sorta imply some past sexual assault w jason so,, watch out

Tim was just about to call it a night; he’d spent the last 4 hours working away at a human trafficking case. It was 3:32am by the time he closed his laptop, vowing to finally get some damn sleep. Briefly, he considered going out for a short patrol, but exhaustion weighed down on him like a ton of bricks. It was time to sleep.

 

He rose from his couch, his joints and back stiff and achy. He stretched, yawned, and slid over the back of the couch towards his bedroom. His hand was barely on the doorknob when,

 

_ knock knock knock _

 

Someone, some evil and vile creature of hell, was knocking at his door at  _ 3-fucking-30 in the morning. _

 

Tim considered ignoring it and going to bed, but whoever was there has  _ got _ to have a good reason. They better.

 

Begrudgingly, Tim turned to the front door. 

 

_ knock knock knock _

 

Leaning against the door and propping himself up on his tippy toes, Tim checked the peephole.

 

Jason. 

 

Immediately, Tim began unlocking the excessive number of deadbolts on the door. By the time the last one was unlocked, Jason was pushing his way past Tim and into the apartment. He was in civilian clothes, breathing heavily like he’d just ran here. He looked at Tim like he’d just seen a ghost.

 

Tim set his exhaustion aside for a moment. “Jason,” he noticed the blood and bruises on the other man’s knuckles. “What happened?”

 

Jason was shaking. He looked like he might be sick. He didn’t say anything.

 

Tim found himself at Jason’s side before he had time to think about it, “Hey, you okay? What happened? Talk to me, man.”

 

“I.” Jason said. He kept opening and closing his mouth like he wasn’t sure where to start. 

 

“Hey, just. Have a seat, okay?” 

 

Jason nodded, wandering to the living room and sitting down stiffly on the couch. Tim joined him a moment later, glass of water in hand. Jason took it gratefully. 

 

“Okay. Start from the beginning.” Tim said softly. Jason sighed.

 

It was a moment before he said anything at all. “I finished my patrol around two, two-thirty. Nothing was happening, I figured I wasn’t needed.” He took a deep breath, taking a sip of his water. 

 

“I went home, got changed. I was gonna sleep, but I still wasn’t tired. So, I went to this mom and pop place down the street for something to eat, and on my way back, I. There was this guy,” Jason was shaking enough to ripple the water in his cup. “and this girl. Pretty sure she was working the corner there. And. And he had her against the wall, and she was screaming, so I mean, I hit him. I started beating the shit outta him, but then he had a gun, and.” 

 

Jason looked like he was having trouble breathing. His face was ghost-pale and his eyes might have been wet. 

 

Instinctively, Tim started checking Jason’s body for bullet wounds. He wouldn’t find any.

 

“And he shot her. In the head.”

 

Tim inhaled sharply. Jason’s reaction made sense now.

 

“Clean through the skull. Her blood was all over the wall, she—“ He choked. He looked as close to tears as Tim had ever seen him. Granted, that wasn’t saying a lot, but still. This is the most vulnerable Tim had ever seen Jason. He wasn’t sure what to say, but he didn’t have to. Jason kept talking.

 

“I think i might have killed him after that? I don’t know, i don’t. I don’t remember. There was blood, everywhere. I think I shattered a couple bones. I don’t know, I called the police and left. I didn’t know where to go, man, I didn’t. This is the first place i thought of.” 

 

Tim nodded, resting his hand on Jason’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jay. That’s… really fucked up. I can’t imagine—“

 

“I’m pretty sure she was one of Diamond’s friends. Think I’ve seen them together before, I. God,  _ fuck, Tim. _ ” Jason’s voice wavered. Tim wrapped his arms around Jason’s broad shoulders awkwardly, but Jason leaned into his touch. 

 

“I couldn’t save her. I didn’t. She might have lived if I hadn’t showed up. I shouldn’t have—“

 

Tim cut him off. “Hey, you did all you could. This isn’t your fault, okay?”

 

“Can I stay tonight?” Jason’s voice was weak. He’d never looked so small.

 

“Of course, I’m always here for you, Jay.”

 

Tim lead him to the bedroom, where a double bed was waiting for them. Jason kicked off his boots, letting Tim lead him onto the bed.

 

“I can take the couch—“

 

“Shh.”

 

They were wrapped in each other that night. Not for the first time, and definitely not for the last. “I’m sorry.” Jason whispered against Tim’s ear. He was asleep before Tim could answer.

  
  


——

  
  


“Diamond, hey.”

 

The trance music pounded from inside the building, muffled through the old brick walls. The building used to be a factory, at one point, but had since been converted into a nightclub.

 

A nightclub with a reputation.

 

Diamond looked up from her smoke. She was with a couple friends—other working girls—in the alley next to the club. Smoke break, Jason supposed.

 

“Red! It’s been a while, how are you?” She said. Her friends smiled at him. He recognized some of their faces, had taken care of their pimps a couple times.

 

“I’m alright, how you been?” He replied, more pleasantries than anything. He knew what kind of life they were living, had seen it up close. Lived it, even. And Diamond? God, she couldn’t be any older than 16, 17 years old. 

 

He wished he had a way to save them.

 

That’s not why he was here, however. That was a crisis for another day.

 

“Eh, you know. You win some, you lose some.” She shrugged, tugging her bodycon dress just a little lower on her thighs. It was chilly tonight, she must be cold out here.

 

Jason nodded. “That girl that was killed the other day. She was your friend, yeah?” Jason asked. Diamond frowned.

 

“Cherry? Yeah. We weren’t super close, but she was always sweet.” Diamond’s friends shifted uncomfortably, turning to their own conversation. “Why? What’s up?”

 

“I was just wondering if you could tell me anything about it?”

 

Diamond bit her lip, thinking. “Not much, really. I know Sweeney—her man—died in the hospital afterwards. He deserved it, though, he was a dick right up until he shot her,” she took a long drag of her cigarette, “bastard. That’s about it, though. Sorry.”

 

Jason nodded, “It’s fine, I appreciate it. And i’m sorry, you know. ‘Bout Cherry.” Diamond nodded understandingly. She took another drag.

 

“And if you hear anything else, mind letting me know? You’ve still got my number, yeah?” Jason said, pulling the fire ladder down with a rusty screech.

 

“‘Course, man.” She smiled at him, the kind reserved for old friends. She pulled her shawl tighter around her body.

 

Just as he was about to haul himself up, she called out to him.

 

“Hey, Jason?” She said. He looked back at her. “It was nice to see you again.”

 

He smiled, even though she couldn’t see it under the helmet. “You too, Denise. Stay safe.”

 

With that, Jason took off up the fire escape. 

  
  


——

  
  


“ _ God, Tim.” _

 

Jason threw his hands in the air, threading them through his hair. The wind whipped his jacket around him, blowing Tim’s cape like a sail. They stood on top of one of Gotham’s buildings, facing one another. It was somewhere around 3am, too late to be dealing with this shit. 

 

Jason’s helmet sat on the ground. He was seething. Tim wouldn’t meet his eyes.

 

“Are you  _ stupid?!  _ You could have died—  _ or worse!” _ Jason  _ really  _ wasn’t used to being the rational one, but  _ god _ . He paced the rooftop, his boots thumping on the brick. Tim shook his head.

 

Tim had dove, metaphorical guns blazing, into a gang meeting, discussing the placement of illegal sex workers. He had managed to take out two men before Don got a hold of him. That’s when Jason showed up, shooting one asshole through the skull and another in the gut. The others got away, including Don.

 

Tim, of course, ended up being fine, if not pissed at Jason for ruining this human trafficking case he’d been working for weeks. But he didn’t know. Didn’t know what sort of danger he’d put himself in.

 

Jason knew. And, honestly, it terrified him to think about.

 

“Hey, it wasn’t a big deal! Jason, I had it under control! Why are you—?” Jason stepped forward then, grabbing Tim’s shoulders. 

 

“Don’t you get it? It’s  _ who he was,  _ Tim. He— that guy! He pimped out Diamond! He worked with Sweeney! He—!” 

 

Tim grabbed Jason’s wrist, pulling his hand away. “I can handle myself, asshole! I can handle pimps and rapists, stop treating me like a child!”

 

Jason grabbed Tim’s face suddenly in a weirdly gentle motion. Tim let him, too shocked to do much else. “If he did to you what he did to—to—“

 

Tim grabbed Jason’s wrists again, but this time he didn’t pull him away. He was looking at Jason like he was a case he had to solve. And then it clicked.

 

“—to you.” Tim said, and Jason cringed. 

 

“He’s an awful person, Tim.  _ Awful.  _ I’ve been tryna kill him for years, you can’t get in his way again, okay?” 

 

Tim nodded only slightly. 

 

“Promise me.” Jason pressed.

 

“You know I can handle him—“

 

“ _ Promise. Me.” _

 

“Okay, yeah. Promise.” Tim said. He didn’t mean it. Jason knew there was no way to get him to.

 

“He has ways of doing things. Ways to twist your arm, exploit you. He’s dangerous. Please,  _ please,  _ stay away from him.” Although Jason would never admit it, he was begging.

 

This time, Tim grabbed Jason’s face. “What did he do to you?”

 

Jason crushed their lips together in a bruising kiss. 

 

He wasn’t about to let Tim know.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> someone tell jason it’s ok to have feelings


End file.
